An update at last!

Ideally, this would be me, spending quality time in the library at school, being all studious and keen to learn as much as I can (or more)!

The reality:

Feeling a little overwhelmed by it all, right now. As I said the other day, I'm NOT complaining - I like the feeling of being a student and doing something I'm actually interested in - but it's taking me some time to get a routine going, particularly as the heavy-duty work starts in earnest this week. One of our instructors said quite frankly on Friday: "The honeymoon is over."

I've sat down and made a 'to-do' list for the weekend and for next week, so that I can accomplish some things that aren't school-related. I'm becoming aware that setting out a plan for each day is the best way to do this, and have to realize that it needs to be flexible. I'll need to remember that as long as it's not school-related, it can be postponed.

I have my schedules in every binder, on the fridge and beside my computer; I got a locker at school to keep myself organized and have somewhere to leave my coat in the winter; I've got paper, pens, folders, stationery out the yin-yang, textbooks, and I wake up every day happy and excited that I'm not going to "real" work. But do I have the motivation? This is my biggest fear, that I'll take advantage of the fact that I'm not working for 9-months and just blow this whole thing. That somehow I won't be able to keep up and it'll end up being a complete waste of time. Or, worse, that I'll be bored stiff.

It's a BIG adjustment. I've already sat down with one of my (two) instructors to discuss the keyboarding class. I was relieved to find out that it's not structured like the other courses and that if I do well enough in the official timings (the "exam") at the end of December, I won't have to take it next semester. This is my new goal. My first was to pass two assessments that were given to us over the first two days (Business Math & Computer Literacy). Math is not my forte, but once I figured out the structure of the questions, it was no problem. I spent ages reviewing fractions for nothing! Ha ha! And we're all a bunch of computer smarty-pants it seems, as the whole class passed the computer literacy assessment. Fantastic! Insta-credits all 'round! :)

Monday is our first quiz (Accounting), plus we have three assignments to hand in! And so, it begins...

The creative writing class is going to be a lot of fun. The first writing review went very well. I wasn't overly happy with what I (eventually) submitted, but it got good reviews - and great critiques - and it did work as I'd hoped, with a little twist at the end. Several people read it twice! It took AGES to write something, but now that it's down, I do have something to work with and expand on, so I'm actually feeling much better about it. I've got a bit of a break in the writing arena for the next week, too, but have some reading and critiquing to do. Fortunately, there's no final exam for this course. We have to, instead, hand in revised versions of the work we do over the course of the class.

Outside of school, things are going well too. My roommate left yesterday, which is a shame, but I have another one moving in at the end of the week. She seems nice - young, so I hope it won't be a problem - and the money I get from her will cover all of my expenses every month (including gas for the truck)! I'm dipping WAY into my LOC and will be paying rent in advance through June. I'm hoping that I'll be able to put some of the money I get towards a payment each month as I'm going to also use it to pay off my credit cards. Stupid spending again. I miscalculated my final paycheque and it turns out my last full one was September 5, not the 19th as I was expecting. I'll get a couple hundred dollars from an extra shift I did before I left work, but it just means I'll have to use more of the LOC than I was intending, so I have to be careful. I get my first grant cheque this Friday, and that will cover groceries and a tank of gas, hopefully, so I can't forget that by being frugal, I can actually live 9-months without working.

This means I also need to tidy, clean and reorganize a few things as this roommate is looking for longer term accommodation. I've been doing great with decluttering and either selling or recycling and donating the stuff. Two big bags of books have made their way to the second-hand store, lots of stuff has disappeared into the free store at the recycling depot and I've managed to make some decent cash from selling some items, too, which is terrific. The place is looking and feeling much better. I think it stems from the fact that I don't want too much clutter and distraction while I'm at school. If I continue to pick away at this, it's going to be fantastic by the end of the year.

My poor little princess is back at the vet's this weekend. While I was away in July she was there for several days and that's when they discovered that she was no longer diabetic, but they didn't know what was wrong with her. She was at the vet last week, too, for another glucose test and it turns out she's got acute pancreatitis. It means the digestive enzymes aren't working properly and the pancreas is effectively digesting itself, rather than helping digest food. She's skin & bones, lethargic, vomiting yet increasingly hungry and just so miserable and sick. I went to collect some information from the vet yesterday and mentioned she wasn't doing well, so they kindly took her in and they've had her overnight. It's really the best place she can be. I believe they've run an ultrasound test as well, to see what it actually looks like inside and the vet has already called to say she seems to be doing well. She's on fluids, but hasn't had a bowel movement (stress-related). She should be home later this afternoon.

My landlady continues her streak as the Awesomest in the Universe. She bought me (well, technically the suite) a new washer and dryer set! I had a washer in the suite and used drying racks up to now and it worked fine. You just had to time everything better when it came to drying it. The new set is stackable, very water/energy efficient (front load) and is actually going to make a tremendous difference with respect to how much cat hair is around the place. I kept a drying rack because I do think it's better to hang dry some stuff, but otherwise I'm thrilled to bits with my shiny new machines! :) I swear I'm the luckiest tenant in the city.

But I need to stop distracting myself and get some things crossed off my to-do list, school-related and not. Hope you all have a great remainder of your weekend!